Commentary

King v. Burwell: 4 words and 8 million Americans

With King v. Burwell to be argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, supporters of the Affordable Care Act are rehearsing the same sketchy arguments about the language and history of the healthcare law.

With the full impact of harsh caps on defense spending set to resume next year, Congress has an important opportunity to analyze the merits of the president’s proposed increase and exceed it as necessary to target additional funds towards addressing the military’s readiness crisis. Here’s how policymakers could spend additional funds — up to and beyond the president’s request of $534 billion.

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More energy, more power: A new opportunity to pivot in Asia

If American political leaders turn the nation’s increased energy production into power, the United States will have good strategic options to deal with any new Chinese challenge. This strength is the safest, best way to persuade China to choose comity over rivalry.

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Stan Veuger

National Interest Magazine: The repeal of certain Obamacare exchange subsidies, seen as furthering a conservative goal, is likely to hurt the GOP politically.

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Marc A. Thiessen

The Washington Post: House Republicans have placed Boehner in an unwinnable situation and are mad because he is trying to navigate it intelligently.

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Michael Barone

Washington Examiner: Europe has not been doing so well. If America’s economic growth has been sluggish, most of Europe hasn’t been growing at all, with unemployment, especially among the young, remaining perpetually high in much of the continent.

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Andrew P. Kelly

Forbes: Some of the countries we lionize for their high-achieving and tuition-free higher education systems are successful in part because they do things that many Americans dislike. They track students into different paths and ration access to the most prestigious ones.

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Sadanand Dhume

The Wall Street Journal: Narendra Modi’s first full federal budget didn’t go nearly as far as many had hoped.

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Jonah Goldberg

National Review: Liberalism isn’t dead yet. It’s just resting. But it certainly could use an exciting, charismatic savior to breathe new life and fresh thinking into its ranks.

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Timothy P. Carney

Washington Examiner: Hillary Clinton is blatantly transactional in her fundraising and policy making. And she wants to be president.

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Desmond Lachman

The Hill: Greece policymakers have been falling into the same mistakes. The prescriptions that have been offered under current EU membership have yielded few to no results for the Greek economy. It is time for Greece to fully consider the merits of a euro exit.

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Michael Auslin

The Wall Street Journal: Abe’s drive to increase women in the workforce runs up against the need for higher birthrates.

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Michael R. Strain

National Review Online: Fed chair Janet Yellen’s speech on inequality is back in the news thanks to yesterday’s rough-and-tumble congressional hearing.

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Karlyn Bowman

Forbes: The States of Change: Demographics and Democracy project offers a preview of how the United States might look in 2060.

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Frederick M. Hess

National Review: The Student Success Act reflects a principled, limited federal role in education, and it deserves conservative support.

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Ramesh Ponnuru

Bloomberg View: When Dodd-Frank was being debated in Congress, critics warned that the CFPB would have little accountability and would therefore be inclined to overreach. By trying to eliminate dealer discretion on auto loan discounts, the agency seems determined to prove that fear right.

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FSOC needs fixing

The Financial Stability Oversight Council cannot possibly fulfill its assignment from Congress.

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The Kyoto Protocol: 10 years of triumph

The score after a decade: Kyoto Protocol: 9, Climate Deniers: 0.

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Countering violent extremism? ‘It’s the theology, stupid’

Subordinating the Islamic basis for ‘violent extremism’ to diplomatic sensitivity leads not to solutions but rather to the ridiculous.

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NATO’s Russian ‘reset’: Less is not more

With NATO’s shrinking military capabilities and the reduced US military presence in Europe, the alliance’s attempts to deter Russia from destabilizing NATO’s eastern front have been less than impressive.

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Trade Promotion Authority: A winning bargain for Congress and the president

Controversies over the basic constitutionality of the Trade Promotion Authority process, as well as the balance of power between the executive and the legislative branches of government, are looming again in the current struggle over passage of new TPA legislation.

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Scott Gottlieb

Forbes: Obamacare forces any slight change in health insurance premiums to become a noisy national political matter. This year the new drug for Hepatitis C is likely to put insurers and the medical industry at odds as premium increases gain political scrutiny.

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Arthur C. Brooks

New York Times: Love is always a little risky. Romantic success takes courage and mindfulness.

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James C. Capretta

National Review: A broad-based tax reform is emerging again as an important item on the national agenda. It’s time to broaden the lens even more and bring into the discussion the tax that is most consequential to the middle class.

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Dan Blumenthal

Foreign Policy: US-China policy does not need new slogans. Rather, it requires a very measured statecraft to find areas of cooperation while competing effectively for power and influence without resorting to conflict.

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Kevin A. Hassett

National Review: The EPA’s proposed carbon emission regulation passes the EPA’s own cost-benefit analysis only if you include benefits that accrue to the whole world rather than the citizens of the United States. This sets a dangerous precedent for American public policy.

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Mackenzie Eaglen

US News & World Report: While there are a few new dynamics for 2016, by and large, what is past is prologue for the Pentagon.

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Benjamin Zycher

The Hill: The UN is denying the prediction trends of the IPCC climate models and denying the IPCC discussions of the evidence. Why?

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Who should pay for Ukraine?

With Ukraine’s economy on the brink of economic collapse, the IMF is readying itself for yet another outsize loan. But rather than the IMF risking its credibility, Western allies should provide Ukraine with financial support.

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Roslyn Layton

Forbes: When it comes to the mobile app economy, policymakers should be careful what they choose to ban — especially that which they don’t fully understand.

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Norman J. Ornstein

National Journal: Cutting the IRS’s funding will result in a serious drop in revenue due to fewer audits and less oversight—which will worsen our federal budget deficits.

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The EPA on Keystone XL: Ideology trumps analysis

The recent EPA comment on the State Department analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline is nonsense, arguing that the pipeline would increase global greenhouse gas emissions. In reality, the Canadian oil will be produced, and the only questions are where it will be refined and at what higher cost.

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W. Bradford Wilcox

National Review: It’s past time for all of us who lead, teach, or study at one of the nation’s colleges or universities to take a more active role in ending campus rape, and to make sure that the likes of 'Drew' — the Phi Psi ring leader who put Jackie through a living hell — don’t go on to graduate to murder.

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Mark J. Perry

Investor's Business Daily: Has the lack of a workable energy policy been a blessing? Surprisingly, yes.

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James Pethokoukis

The Week: America has lots of problems, but too many billionaires isn’t one of them. And most Americans agree.

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Christina Hoff Sommers

Time: Much of what we hear about the plight of American women is false. Some faux facts have been repeated so often they are almost beyond the reach of critical analysis.

Using actual campus crime data from the University of Minnesota and assuming the White Claim that only 12% of sexual assaults are reported, an analysis shows that only 1 in 38 female UM students was the victim of sexual assault from 2010-2012.

Europe has not been doing so well. If America’s economic growth has been sluggish, most of Europe hasn’t been growing at all, with unemployment, especially among the young, remaining perpetually high in much of the continent.

Some of the countries we lionize for their high-achieving and tuition-free higher education systems are successful in part because they do things that many Americans dislike. They track students into different paths and ration access to the most prestigious ones.

With the full impact of harsh caps on defense spending set to resume next year, Congress has an important opportunity to analyze the merits of the president’s proposed increase and exceed it as necessary to target additional funds towards addressing the military’s readiness crisis. Here’s how policymakers could spend additional funds — up to and beyond the president’s request of $534 billion.

Teachers are right that school improvement is ultimately about what happens between students and teachers in classrooms, and that means supporting instruction and empowering teachers. But reformers are right to fear that some teachers can’t be trusted with that authority.

Greece policymakers have been falling into the same mistakes. The prescriptions that have been offered under current eurozone membership have yielded little-to-no results for the Greek economy. It is time for Greece to fully consider the merits of euro exit.

King v. Burwell could be an enormous opportunity for those who want to replace Obamacare with a consumer-driven health reform that would offer flexibility rather than rigidity and encourage the development of a functional and sustainable market for affordable coverage and care. But it will only offer such an opportunity if conservatives are prepared to give the states a serious alternative arrangement.

While 20something marriage has gotten a reputation from parents, peers, and the popular culture for being a bad idea, the evidence suggests many benefits to marrying in your mid-to-late 20s if you find the right person.

When Dodd-Frank was being debated in Congress, critics warned that the CFPB would have little accountability and would therefore be inclined to overreach. By trying to eliminate dealer discretion on auto loan discounts, the agency seems determined to prove that fear right.

If American political leaders turn the nation’s increased energy production into power, the United States will have good strategic options to deal with any new Chinese challenge. This strength is the safest, best way to persuade China to choose comity over rivalry.

Obamacare forces any slight change in health insurance premiums to become a noisy national political matter. This year the new drug for Hepatitis C is likely to put insurers and the medical industry at odds as premium increases gain political scrutiny.

The EPA’s proposed carbon emission regulation passes the EPA’s own cost-benefit analysis only if you include benefits that accrue to the whole world rather than the citizens of the United States. This sets a dangerous precedent for American public policy.

The Fed’s decision to end the QE purchases was easy. The harder decision – when to raise the funds rate – lies ahead. Could the data provide a compelling case by June in favor of tightening given the risk of making a policy mistake that would be difficult to reverse? It’s possible, but not likely.